Kiss the Dragon
by Shinra-ex-SOLDIER
Summary: A warmhearted halloween for the Seventh Heaven Family with an added touch of cloti. A SOLDIER, a princess, a sorceress and a dragon. Who is which? Little by little, people began to pick themselves up and opened their horizons to the simplest of joys just like what a small family is doing tonight, this Halloween. (Written and posted last year in deviantart)


**Kiss the Dragon / A Dragon's Kiss**

"Prepare to get your butt kicked!"

They clashed. It was an inevitable battle between two parties. A knight, clad in the most honourable armor made of only the strongest metals, held his mighty broadsword of courage as he remarkably blocked each move of the enemy party. A vampire, clothed with a tattered red cloak battered by the ages that had passed, tried to overpower him but failed miserably to which a dragon, green not with envy or greed but just merely green with scales not skin, took down any attempt the bloodsucking demon would make with a hefty tail whip. Having her partner already down, a ninja, arrayed in a mostly black motif with a ridiculously large weapon of choice, had almost thrown the shuriken if only a sorceress, garbed in red up to the crooked point of her hat, had not casted Slow causing a massive delay on her action. Seeing the opening, a princess, dressed in the most royal cloth of fabulous pink, summoned her knight to finish them off. Bound by his duty to serve the crown, the knight ultimately defeated them not just with one fell swoop but with a 4x Cut move and twirled the seemingly lightweight blade in a familiar victory pose.

Applause.

~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~

"Jackpot! I knew it, from the moment I saw Spike he was even better than a gold chocobo. He's an actual chocobo that brings in gold! Beat that!" A hyperactive ninja who goes by the name of Yuffie was skipping on a sidewalk with the other party in a peace treaty.

"That was really fun! Everyone was amazing; I didn't know you were so good at acting Cloud." Princess Marlene twirled ecstatically and managed to flash a brilliant smile in her spin.

"Well, they did give us a lot of candy. Thanks, Cloud." The timid knight, Denzel, held his bucket of a shield now brimming with sweets of equally tasty colors.

"It's like I'm not wearing a costume at all." The dragon not chocobo, Cloud, sighed dejectedly at another gag at his golden spikes.

"Get used to it. You won't be hearing any less of that." Presumed vampire, Vincent, commented in a voice so low for only Cloud's ears to hear not that it helped.

"I can't help but notice, where're your costumes?" Red sorceress, Tifa, politely asked the two unexpected recruits of their bandwagon.

"Who? Us? We're already wearing it."

"But those are your usual clothes, silly. She meant your Halloween costumes!" Marlene giggled, feeling more mature than the young adult even just by a bit.

"Did everyone suddenly forget who I am?" Yuffie abruptly came to a halt and spun to face them in mock shock.

"Umm, you're Yuffie, right?" Denzel knew her because she was Cloud's friend and that out of all of Cloud's friends, she would visit the most.

"Not just Yuffie. I am the champion of the earth and the sky. I am the conqueror of evil. The single white rose of Wutai, Yuffie Kisaragi!" It was her practiced speech and was heavily punctuated with dramatic poses. After a fist pump at the mention of her name she quickly added in her companion for the night albeit a little lacklustre. "And her buddy vampire, Vincent Valentine."

"Did you just call me a vampire?" He glared at her with burning eyes much redder than his mantle.

"If the pointy shoes fit!" She replied in a rather shrill and teasing tone.

~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~

Edge was still recovering from tragedies that fell one after another on its ramshackle grounds. Nobody knew when the next calamity would come crashing down and it left everyone still living in the shadows of fear. If there were ever to be any peace, it should be planted first in the hearts of each. This was why the World Regenesis Organization (WRO) tried to bring back the normalcy into the lives of the people. It was hard at first, trying to celebrate holidays with nothing to celebrate with or nothing much to begin with but times have changed. Edge wasn't living on the edge anymore, it was just plain living. Little by little, people began to pick themselves up and opened their horizons to the simplest of joys just like what a small family is doing tonight, this Halloween.

The theme of their costumes was picked from a very amusing episode in Cloud and Tifa's life, particularly, in their relationship. Whoever thought to do just that? Was it Cloud? Was it Tifa? Or maybe even both? It is forever uncertain; one thing is for sure though, the secret lies within the faintest touches that ache to be more, the smallest smiles that tease the expected blush, and the brightest eyes that stare at each other whenever they thought no one was looking. It wasn't much of a secret for them, more like something they hold dear, just the two of them to hold it. Something completely and only theirs.

~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~

"We lost because you kept doing those flashy moves." Vincent grunted, not an ounce of annoyance seethed through the calmness of his voice.

"Hey! Everyone likes a good show. Anyways, we only lost because we were just pretend- _umph_!" Yuffie was about to rattle on until two different hands went to cover her rather loud mouth. The owners of the said hands each gave their reprimanding glares.

"Because you were what, Yuffie?" Marlene tilted her head in curiosity.

"Ow! Okay, okay! Sheesh, it's not like I was gonna actually say it." She said rather defensively when even Vincent looked like he was scowling. Some people just don't know when to take a joke.

"Say what?" Even Denzel, the quiet boy that he is, was curious.

"Can you keep a secret?" She couldn't say nothing at those begging eyes. She had to somehow sugar-coat her slip of the tongue. Bending down to their level, Yuffie whispered in a tone that was serious to the children but dubious to the rest. "The adults don't want you kids to know this but luckily for you, I'm on your side." She gave them a good toothy grin. "Truth is, we lost because you all worked together. Can't beat family." She winked.

"We're going." Satisfied, Vincent suddenly spoke that everyone who had heard him almost jumped.

"Already? But we just started." Tifa was a bit sad at this. The night was still young and it would be a shame to end it now after all, tonight only comes once a year.

"Oh we're not stopping here, just gonna split. No offense guys, the whole battle thing is nice at parties but doing that at every house is kinda getting old. B'sides, me and Vinnie here can clean any house clean of sweets. I mean, c'mon! Is that the best vampire getup or what?"

"It was a pleasure meeting you. Now if you'll excuse us…" There was a distinct click only a gun would produce where the weapon was unfortunately for Yuffie, only she would know.

"Eep! Bye guys!" Yuffie jumped and turned tail while Vincent kept up with long strides.

~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~

"You must be happy seeing those two again, huh?"

"Yeah. How about you Marlene, aren't you happy?" Cloud did what was supposed to be a shrug burdened by a very uncomfortable costume.

"Of course I am! Yuffie is cool!"

"I'm not too okay with her being your role model." Tifa's face scrounged a little at the thought of the little girl becoming mischievous like the thief. Barret would never forgive her if that happened.

"I'll give you half of what I got if you promise you won't end up like Yuffie."

"Cloud!"

"Hmm, I don't know…" Marlene pondered and swayed a little which made the frills of her lovely dress puff.

"Plus a piggy back ride back home."

"Done." They shook their hands at the deal.

"Good." Cloud was more relieved to have averted the crisis.

"Too easy." Marlene smiled and ran straight to hug Tifa which made Cloud wonder if she really was serious about what she said a while ago. Thankfully what she said afterwards cleared his anxiety. "Everyone knows that I want to be like Tifa."

"That's sweet of you, Marlene." Tifa patted the little girl's crown of hair in a nurturing caress of a mother. She was always aware of how she appeared in Marlene's eyes but when she says it out like this, Tifa couldn't help but fill herself with pride and joy.

"I'm serious. You always take care of all of us, always! And you never give up, no matter what!" Her eyes sparkled with admiration, built since she was still being hoisted on her Daddy's shoulders, for the strongest female of the planet. She was the best, just ask Cloud.

"She is quite the woman." Even though Cloud said this to Marlene, he was looking at Tifa with intense blue eyes that made Tifa's body suddenly go hot complimenting the crimson blush that suddenly streaked her beautiful face.

"Yup! And I'm gonna grow up to be just like Tifa." Marlene was oblivious to the things Cloud was doing to Tifa.

"Don't get too excited. Right now we need you to be Marlene." Tifa tapped the little princess' nose in an attempt to shake the fact that he was looking at her.

Cloud was smirking, fully aware of Tifa's flustered actions. Seeing that she was too busy occupying herself with Marlene, it was then that he noticed someone was out of the scene. Little gulps of laughter passed by him. It didn't come from the missing person. Because Denzel was sitting a few steps away from them. What bothered Cloud was the fact that no matter how near he was, the fact was that he was _away _from them and not _with _them. Instead of a short walk, Cloud could only waddle towards him and cursed at his costume and its difficulty.

"Is something the matter?"

"Nothing." Denzel hid his face inside his helm. He wasn't sure if he wanted to talk about it. That he missed his parents. That he thought he would be okay tonight but apparently he was wrong. He wasn't that much fond of the holiday but he was fond of his parents. They always had candy for him. And tonight, tonight was just too much.

"I see." Cloud fished something in his half-empty bucket and offered it to Denzel. "Trick or treat."

"Huh?"

"You don't like lollipops? I have two, you can have one." When Denzel finally took his share, Cloud didn't waste time in unwrapping the other one and ate it nonchalantly.

"…Cloud?" Was this Cloud's way of cheering him up?

"Hmm." He was playing with the stick that was sticking out of his mouth.

"It's nothing." He shook his head. He must be overthinking things. Silently he did the same to his lollipop and placed it in the confines of his mouth. His face soured. "Lemon?"

"You don't like it?" Cloud shortly popped his out but went back onto licking it after. Then he just started talking. "I don't… like sweets that much. I never had any when I was your age. All the kids in the neighbourhood could buy candy except me. It was just me and mom and we were just keeping up with the expenses so I didn't waste money like the other kids."

"You never ate candy?" He never thought a kid couldn't get any candy, it was unheard of. It's been a while since the last time Denzel felt sad for Cloud. Now that he thought about it, a lot of stories about Cloud were sad.

"Not that I remember." He shook his head not much to emphasize his point but rather to shake off the gloomy nostalgia that was beginning to haunt him. "When I got my first salary, most of it was sent to my mother and I had some spare gil left."

"Then what?"

"I bought a whole pack of assorted lollipops."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and I ate them all down to the last stick." In embarrassment, Cloud scratched above what would've been his nape if it weren't for the costume. "Then I realized why everyone loved them. They were sweet. When you're having a bad day, you can just pop in a candy in your mouth and feel better."

"I never thought of it that way." He stared guiltily at his lollipop. There really are a lot of things in life you take for granted.

"You're not supposed to, you're still a kid. Eat up while you can." Cloud took out his helm and ruffled his hair affectionately.

"So, what's your favourite flavour?"

"Lemon. Not too sweet but still sweet enough. How about you, Denz?"

He smiled shyly. "Guess now you'll be having some competition over the lemon-flavored lollipops." He had challenged him instead, what he actually meant and wanted to say was, "I want to grow up to be just like you."

The message got through anyway. "I won't go too easy on you. Now let's go, they're waiting for us." He smirked encouragingly.

Denzel tackled him into a hug. Whenever he would eat candy he'd remember his parents but now he has one more person to remember which isn't so bad knowing that he can go to him and he'll always be there. "Thanks, Cloud." And they were both smiling.

~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~

A handful of sweets, two chocolate bars and a lollipop finished later.

"A whole cast! Well then, put on a little show for me and I'll throw in something extra."

Such was the order of the tall tonberry, a man probably in his late thirties in muddy leather shoes and dark brown worn-out cloak that left little of his face to show, he had an antique lantern and a trifling butcher knife each held with green mittens for hands. Delighted at the sight of the family, he requested them to perform much to their frustration. They had little to no practice at all. To perform they would need a skit with scripts and such, and they had none. The children fidgeted at the dilemma and found themselves looking expectantly at the older members of the family. To which they did exchange worried glances while their only audience waited patiently.

"Long, long ago… An evil shadow appeared over the peaceful kingdom of Gaia." Surprisingly, it was Cloud who started the whole act with what would've been the voice of a dragon being choked.

"Princess Marlene was just kidnapped by the Evil Dragon King, Cloud. What will become of her?" The sorceress picked up the role of narrator from then on, much to everyone's relief.

"Cloud! It's kidnap not carry." Marlene scolded him when he just hoisted her to his broad shoulders.

"I'm improvising." He chided with a smile in his tone. And instead of breathing burning flames or growling out loud, he flippantly said the word rather than doing the supposed action. "Roar."

"Teehee… Save me!" The princess was obviously enjoying herself. After all, isn't it every girl's dream to be of royalty and to have a knight in shining armor to come and rescue you?

"What do I do?" Now being left out of a role, the little boy was nervous.

"Oh, you must be the legendary hero, Denzel!" Tifa grinned. A child's innocence, once taken can never be brought back. And Denzel was as innocent as he could possibly be. "Please save the princess, only you can do it."

"Me?" He questioned and vehemently shook his head. "But I can't."

"Of course you can. You're the hero."

"I can't. Cloud is the real hero. There must be another way. I don't want to hurt Cloud." He looked away as if what he was about to do was the heaviest crime there was. Really, were they serious? Cloud was his hero; he didn't want to hurt him even if it was pretend.

"I'll be fine, Denz. Just go ahead and defeat me, I'm the evil dragon king after all." The young adult reassured him.

"No, you're not. You're Cloud and we're just being stupid." He kept protesting until he finally mumbled something more to himself but which Cloud still picked up. "I don't want to beat you over some candies."

"Denzel…" Cloud tried to go as low as his outfit would have allowed which was good enough to look at him at eyelevel and to hold his shoulder as well.

"Hello? Princess waiting to be saved?" Marlene grew uncomfortable at how Denzel was beating himself up. She had to do something to cheer up everybody. Then it hit her, this act needs more action. "If he can't do it then I guess I'll just have to save myself."

"What?" That caught everyone's attention.

"Cloud, this will probably hurt you more than it'll hurt me but it's nothing personal. You did kidnap me and you are evil so no hard feelings." She gently propped herself down and did a roundhouse kick to his chest just like how Tifa would to rude customers. "Hiyaaah!"

"Oww…" He quickly assumed the position of a crumpling villain. He was actually surprised she could pull off a kick in that dress which caught him off guard. Aside from his hopeless pride, everything was unscathed. "You have defeated me."

"Ahh, the weakness of the Evil Dragon King..." Now this was the tricky part. Tifa must find a way to somehow mesh everything and still make it a presentable story. "It must be true love! The power of love is the only weapon that can withstand the fangs of the Evil Dragon King!"

"How is _that _the power of love?" Denzel pointed at the remnants of the one-sided fight.

"Well, if you think about it, do you believe Marlene can beat Cloud?"

"N-no." He stammered. Nobody can beat Cloud.

"Right. And you said so yourself that you can't do that either. But Cloud loves you both and he was willing enough to take a blow from you even if he was an evil dragon king."

Soft applause.

"Splendid performance!" The forgotten reason for all of this clapped which didn't sound much considering he did it with mittens. "I believe you earned this." He held out two magic pots overflowing with candy to which everyone thanked him for. "Dig in deep enough and I'm sure you'll find that extra surprise I promised you earlier. Also, I've heard that they'll be lighting the skies tonight so I suggest you enjoy it if you're still awake that is." He waved them goodbye as they started walking.

"There's a hankie in this pot." Marlene noticed.

"I should bring it back." Denzel volunteered. It's the least he could do. He ran back and when he was about to hand the piece of cloth it was then that he too noticed something, "Ah, mister! You dropped your…" It was a white handkerchief with a pink floral pattern, a very familiar item.

"Thank you, boy." Reeve smiled for his eyes only. And then he went inside, leaving a stunned child on his porch.

"Denzel, let's go home." Tifa called to which he answered by returning only to see Cloud bent on one knee.

"I have two shoulders. This one is reserved for a legendary hero." On the other one sat a beaming princess.

"Will you be alright?" He stared at him. He didn't doubt Cloud's strength but two kids on his shoulders may be too much, they aren't exactly that little.

"I'll live. Now hop on." The edges of his mouth twitched in what could have been called a smile.

~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~

It was late when the rambunctious group of candy marauders got home. Setting all the confectioner loot on the counter, they went upstairs to change and do their nightly rituals. It was a long night, probably the longest the children ever had so it was no wonder how they immediately went to sleep when Cloud and Tifa put them to bed. Even in their sleep there were the faint traces of their glee and laughing faces from just a while ago. They were truly without reservation, happy.

"Where are you going?" She asked in a low voice that almost echoed in the silence of the exhausting night.

"Just checking something." He replied as headed down the stairs, each step heavier with strain that made the wood creak. The costume took a toll on his body and he did little to hide it.

"Oh, I remember now. He said something about a surprise. I wonder what he meant." He was already rummaging through the pots when she reached him, obviously distracted. He paid her no attention even when she was already right there beside him.

"Beats me." And then he felt something sticking out. He pulled a long strip of paper.

"Is that-?"

"A premium ticket to Gold Saucer. All attractions free." He read, quite the surprise it is.

"We should take the children there sometime."

"Yeah." Without warning, Cloud had held Tifa in a peculiar position. His right hand on her slender back and the calloused fingers of his other hand intertwined with Tifa's right. One, two, he spun her. Then held her close.

"…Cloud?"

"We didn't twirl a while ago."

"Huh?"

"Remember the play at our date? Everyone twirled at the finale." It was called an a la seconde turn only ballerinas would do but everyone ended up doing it as an exit. His lips twitched at the memory of them. He pulled back a little to drown in those belligerent wine-colored eyes. "Everyone but you."

"Maybe because when they said the power of true love was a kiss I half-expected my hero to kiss anyone but the dragon." She stared at him accusingly.

"But the dragon turned out to be human too and you were saved just the same." He chuckled.

"That's not the point." She said so in a pout.

"Sorry." He was still recovering from the silliness of what he did. Then as sudden as his humor had come, it was gone. His eyes held such clarity and seriousness. "I didn't want to spoil our first kiss like that. I wanted it to be special."

Her face softened. Memories of the cool gentle night breeze, the tender moment under the highwind, the silent new promise shared, they had suddenly flashed in her mind. He saw them too. "And it was." There was something different in his eyes and she knew the same was true with hers. She spoke in the softest voice it was like velvet on his skin. "I wonder… if I kiss the dragon this time, what would happen?"

They were slowly, very painfully slowly closing the distance. Their breaths, hot and mixing, intensified their entrancement. Her arms wrapped nicely around his neck. His hands held her securely at the small of her back. Heat seethed through their sensitized skins as they were pressed against each other. They were close, so very close, but not close enough. The power of true love was a kiss. A kiss was all they wanted right now. It was the lightest contact of their lips, like feathers seemingly weightless. What would follow was the kiss, in one, two- a sudden burst of colors lit up. "Dammit, interrupted by fireworks again."

As Cloud cursed, Tifa just lightly laughed at his frustration. She was a bit disappointed too but she couldn't disregard the de ja vu it brought. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Sure it is." Cloud snorted, he just wished it had a better sense of timing.

"Fireworks on Halloween, it may be a bit too much on the WRO budget but I guess everyone's happ-" It didn't matter that she never got to finish her sentence. What she experienced next was the feeling of Cloud's soft and moving lips over hers and how she was melting under his strong protective hold. All this happened under the roof of Seventh Heaven, under the roof of their home, with a spectacular party of bursting lights just outside the window. Nothing else did matter except that they were a family now. And everything was as it should be.

"Happy Halloween, Tifa."

~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~~xoxo~xoxo~

**Shinra-ex-SOLDIER**

_You've been tricked and mistreated before but now they're reduced to their simpler forms._

_Trick or treat. Sometimes a trick of fate is actually a treat._


End file.
